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| -rw-r--r-- | faith/anti-harmony.rst | 9 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | faith/breakfast_in_new_york.rst | 20 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | faith/breakfast_in_new_york_02.rst | 111 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | faith/on-humanism.rst | 4 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | faith/on_bono_and_art.rst | 29 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | faith/on_harriet_potter.rst | 46 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | faith/one-more-anti-harmony.rst | 7 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | faith/problem-of-mary-sue.rst | 17 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | faith/thou_shalt_not_suffer_witch_live.rst | 38 |
9 files changed, 185 insertions, 96 deletions
diff --git a/faith/anti-harmony.rst b/faith/anti-harmony.rst index d7bc2ce..4bfa585 100644 --- a/faith/anti-harmony.rst +++ b/faith/anti-harmony.rst @@ -19,10 +19,11 @@ problem I had until recently with Harmony stories is relentless bashing of most interesting characters in stories (mainly Weasleys, but Mr. Dumbledore, as well). -However, then I read this excellent essay about problems with Harmonians, and -my first reaction was rather negative. There are some problems with the stories -I read, and I have described them in the linked review above, but the essay -seemed to be too dramatic. +However, then I read this excellent essay about problems with +Harmonians, and my first reaction was rather negative. There are +some problems with the stories I read, and I have described them +in the linked review above, but the essay seemed to be too +dramatic. And then I read “`Notebooks and Letters by chem prof`”. The main idea of the story is very interesting: Hermione tells to her daughter how it really diff --git a/faith/breakfast_in_new_york.rst b/faith/breakfast_in_new_york.rst index 6523cf3..7ed0600 100644 --- a/faith/breakfast_in_new_york.rst +++ b/faith/breakfast_in_new_york.rst @@ -18,16 +18,16 @@ a plot as strong as `Moby Dick by Herman Melville`_, do I have the same amount of action?” [#]_ OK, romance can have less adventure than Moby Dick, but this story with its incredibly repetitive in nature (where even Hermione gets so bored, she -obviously forgot Harry has already told her he was Roman-Catholic -and they would have a wedding ordained by his parish priest even -telling her his name) and long descriptions of everything -completely useless in terms of plot, just goes on and on and on. -Thank God it is so easy to skip over huge amounts of boring stuff -like that! (hint: from five days between their engagement and the -wedding, just gathering in the park outside of Grimmauld Place -and meeting at Dursleys’ carries the plot, whole day of visiting -Hogwarts and ZOO, which is like two chapters, can be safely -skipped) +obviously forgot Harry has already told her he was +a Roman-Catholic and they would have a wedding ordained by his +parish priest even telling her his name) with many long +descriptions of everything completely useless in terms of plot, +just goes on and on and on. Thank God it is so easy to skip over +huge amounts of boring stuff like that! (hint: from five days +between their engagement and the wedding, just gathering in the +park outside of Grimmauld Place and meeting at Dursleys’ carries +the plot, whole day of visiting Hogwarts and ZOO, which is like +two chapters, can be safely skipped) However, as I have described elsewhere_, lack of editing is completely normal in the fanfiction world, and I wouldn’t write diff --git a/faith/breakfast_in_new_york_02.rst b/faith/breakfast_in_new_york_02.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1867d6f --- /dev/null +++ b/faith/breakfast_in_new_york_02.rst @@ -0,0 +1,111 @@ +One more on “Breakfast in New York” +################################### + +:date: 2021-03-23T14:08:24 +:category: faith +:tags: review, harryPotter, blogComment + +(second round of my comments on “`Breakfast in New York`_” by +Radaslab; `the first post`_) + +.. _`the first post`: + {filename}breakfast_in_new_york.rst + +There is this author’s note: + + Eros Syndrome was not named or defined back then, but it was + there. Eros Syndrome was needed to explain certain things. + Namely, how could Hermione have let that happen after she + made it clear she was not that kind of girl? Before I wrote + the first sentence, I knew she was going to have Harry's kids + out of wedlock and knew she would be pregnant again + following their reunion. I needed a way to explain it, + because both of my main character are not that way as people + — absent the Syndrome. Hermione would never give her virtue + up absent a wedding ring — or at least almost never. Yes, + Harry may have been (and was) and exception, but I needed and + explanation. + +First, author notes are what programmers call a code smell. Not +necessarily an error, but something suggesting that not +everything is right, and the programmer should check that part of +the code much more thoroughly. When you feel the need to explain +something in the author notes, it usually means you haven’t +explained it well in the story itself, and that’s the only place +where such an explanation should happen. + +But more importantly, this whole explanation is completely wrong! +Before I got to this awkward explanation, I was perfectly happy +with Hermione and Harry forgetting themselves and having +a one-night stand. Of course, not happy meaning I would support +them, but it made a story interesting. + +Explanation, why not-that-girl did this is exactly the main point +of any literature! See the awesome short film “`The Saga Of +Biorn`_” by The Animation Workshop. It starts with this line: +“Some might ask: who is this Viking and what made him throw +a dwarf off a cliff?” Many good stories exactly with this: why +somebody did something very strange, against their character or +against what we would expect from a person like him. Why this +not-that-girl does things which she shouldn’t is exactly this +question that made me interested in the story. + +One of the biggest problems_ I have with most Harmony stories is +that their protagonists are just too perfect. And what’s true +about any literature generally, is even more true about a story +that at least tries to be inspired by Catholicism. Especially +Catholic (or any Christian) literature should acknowledge that +“There is no one righteous, not even one, there is no one who +understands, there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, +together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows +kindness, not even one.” Meaning, that all-perfect people, who +don’t make mistakes (or who don’t sin, to keep the lingo), are +just dream-like creatures not capable of real life. And the +question is, how come these good people, how come we, sometimes +do really stupid things? Why would a good Catholic girl sleep +with a boy on a one-night stand while leaving to the other end of +the world (and she thinks permanently)? Why would he? What would +they do afterwards? + +Where good people do bad things (think Graham Greene, if you want +to have a good Catholic writer) is exactly the place where +graphomania ends and literature may begin. “It was magic who did +it!” is just a valiant attempt to avoid making good literature. + +Another point, if want to have your pair have a Quiverfull +marriage, it is dishonest to hide their courageous decision +behind the magic. They should have many children, because they +are good Catholics, because they love to have a lot of children, +or because they were too ashamed to learn proper anti-conception +techniques, just not because magic forces them to it. + +So, why would not-that-girl do that? Another pair of completely +perfect boring people in all Harmony stories are her parents. +When we stop pretending that all good guys are completely +perfect, we can see that most of them have some obvious flaws. +So, for example, the explanation of many problems in Hermione’s +actions could be explained by her parents. If Hermione was +a daughter of two perfectionist overachievers, working hard was +her only reaction to her guilt. So, when she lies to her parents +about her second year, she drives herself to a breakdown in her +third one. And when she is overcome by stress, loneliness, guilt +(she did effectively enslave her parents, she, a founder of +S.P.E.W.!), unfulfilled desire, and perhaps a bit of wine (of +course, Catholics must drink wine, not Scotch!) and sleeps with +Harry, when she finds later she is pregnant out of wedlock, she +does the same: being the overachiever, perfect student, perfect +single mother (and by God’s grace, she actually is). Fortunately, +she is Hermione Granger, so she has the brain to back up this +drive, and she manages to work it out. + +Perhaps, you have another explanation, but anything is better +than the Eros Syndrome. + +.. _`Breakfast in New York`: + https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5141159 + +.. _`The Saga Of Biorn`: + https://youtu.be/MV5w262XvCU + +.. _problems: + {filename}one-more-anti-harmony.rst diff --git a/faith/on-humanism.rst b/faith/on-humanism.rst index e1ce9af..cd5829f 100644 --- a/faith/on-humanism.rst +++ b/faith/on-humanism.rst @@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ On Humanism :tags: Christianity, I have heard today yet another sermon where the preacher fought -against the great of evil of humanism (fortunately, this was +against the great evil of humanism (fortunately, this was a tangential comment, the main point of sermon was something else and it was very good). It irked me again as it does anytime (most often) American protestant pastor fights against the evils of @@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ humanism. Two reasons: tradition (together with Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, our first President, whose one of the most fundamental books is “Ideály humanitní” (Ideals of humanity)). Again, I am not completely - persuaded about this tradition, there is a lot on it, which is + persuaded about this tradition, there is a lot in it, which is not great, but older I am getting more I am returning to some of its aspects: stress on “práce drobná” (small acts of work, which is usually more important than a great showy diff --git a/faith/on_bono_and_art.rst b/faith/on_bono_and_art.rst index 409c33e..d44c745 100644 --- a/faith/on_bono_and_art.rst +++ b/faith/on_bono_and_art.rst @@ -49,21 +49,20 @@ republic for the folk Christian music, than `Učedníci`_. And even better, when I was on one of the first Christian retreats with the poeple from my new church, they had concert just in the next village from us. So, of course, we all went there. I really liked -their music, my freshly converted a bit puritanical soul was -a bit easy with the motive of “Jonathan Livingston Seagull“ on -which whole show was based a bit too ambiguous (years later -I found that the show was a way better than the book). When the -front man of the group was closing the evening, he wished us to -see and enjoy great art. “What? You don’t know how to recognize -what is art and what isn’t? It is easy. Just look on what the -artists focuses.” And he mentioned Pink Floyd. They were -certainly not shy to make the most bombastic show possible -(arguably, they invented the idea of the most bombastic rock -concerts on the stadium), but what’s remarkable that musicians -themselves are obviously the least obvious part of everything. -They are in the middle of crazy explosions, light, and -everything, but they were usually in a bit shabby jeans and -T-shirt. +their music, my freshly converted a bit puritanical soul was +a bit uneasy with the motive of “Jonathan Livingston Seagull“ on +which whole show was based (years later I found that the show was +a way better than the book). When the front man of the group was +closing the evening, he wished us to see and enjoy great art. +“What? You don’t know how to recognize what is art and what +isn’t? It is easy. Just look on what the artists focuses.” And he +mentioned Pink Floyd. They were certainly not shy to make the +most bombastic show possible (arguably, they invented the idea of +the most bombastic rock concerts on the stadium), but what’s +remarkable these musicians themselves are obviously the least +obvious part of everything. They are in the middle of crazy +explosions, light, and everything, but they were usually in a bit +shabby jeans and T-shirt. .. _episode: http://www.hellohoratio.com/node/186 diff --git a/faith/on_harriet_potter.rst b/faith/on_harriet_potter.rst deleted file mode 100644 index 2bc4e73..0000000 --- a/faith/on_harriet_potter.rst +++ /dev/null @@ -1,46 +0,0 @@ -On Harriet Potter -################# - -:date: 2018-06-13T22:49:55 -:status: draft -:category: faith -:tags: review, HarryPotter, blogComment - -While looking for some nice fanfiction story I randomly hit on -the story with the enticing title -“`Harriet Potter: What it is like to be a witch`_”. It had also -rather interesting summary. Only later I woke up to how many -Harry turns to girl stories there, and most of them are trash. -However, my first half-conscious thought when looking at this -was: “That’s a splendid idea, I wonder whether the happy world of -magic would be so magic for a girl. Crossover between Harry -Potter and feminism? Interesting.” I don’t want to write about -that particular story too much, because unfortunately I found it -to be a complete piece of trash. I am not sure about the author, -but it seems like the author was actually not a woman, but a gay -(transgender? something) male, and the story not much more than -a graphomaniac description of his fantasies without much touch of -a story. After spending a (long) chapter on endlessly describing -process of physical transformation with details of every part of -her body changed, and after (another!) long chapter spent on -shopping for clothes with her friends (Fleur Weasley & Nimphadora -Tonks! Can you imagine her to go for a shopping spree?), it went -straight to sex. I haven’t finished reading more than first few -chapters, and then left it where it belongs, in trash. So, this -is not a proper review of that particular story, just the highly -disgusted impression. - -However, the idea of taking on the patriarchy inside of the -magical world still seemed tempting to me. So, I went to -intentionally search for some story like this, but better -written. Only then I found that this story is probably just the -second one in numbers after “Do you wonder what would happen if -Harry Potter had a sister-twin?” (no, I am not), and most of them -are not better than that one. However, in the end, I found one -which seems interesting. “`Becoming Harriet`_” by Teao. - -.. _`Harriet Potter: What it is like to be a witch`: - https://archiveofourown.org/works/4699043 - -.. _`Becoming Harriet`: - https://archiveofourown.org/works/4876630 diff --git a/faith/one-more-anti-harmony.rst b/faith/one-more-anti-harmony.rst index ce70f51..189458e 100644 --- a/faith/one-more-anti-harmony.rst +++ b/faith/one-more-anti-harmony.rst @@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ One More Anti-Harmony (my comments on the thread “`why does almost everyone hate the Harry/Hermione ship?`_” by patriot_man69420_) -I don’t hate the ship, although I generally prefer Hinny, I could -admit that `Ginny is extremely poorly written by JKR`_, +I don’t `hate the ship`_, although I generally prefer Hinny, +I could admit that `Ginny is extremely poorly written by JKR`_, and fanfiction has to add a lot of her personality to make her livable (which fortunately Northumbrian and other great Hinny writers did). I can even agree that when we limit ourselves just @@ -87,6 +87,9 @@ and Harry fit together? .. _`why does almost everyone hate the Harry/Hermione ship?`: https://www.reddit.com/r/HPfanfiction/comments/i4u5ce/why_does_almost_everyone_hate_the_harryhermione/g0kxwpa/?context=3 +.. _`hate the ship`: + https://angua9.livejournal.com/204545.html + .. _patriot_man69420: https://www.reddit.com/user/patriot_man69420/ diff --git a/faith/problem-of-mary-sue.rst b/faith/problem-of-mary-sue.rst deleted file mode 100644 index 81ac77b..0000000 --- a/faith/problem-of-mary-sue.rst +++ /dev/null @@ -1,17 +0,0 @@ -The problem of Mary Sue -####################### - -:date: 2019-04-23T10:11:41 -:status: draft -:category: faith -:tags: review, HarryPotter, blogComment - - -Problem of all those stories “what if …” (Harry had a sister, -Harry was a girl, Harry was a Slytherin, somebody else was -a Slytherin, Harry or somebody else from the Trio has some -special gift, soul bond) is that if they want to follow canon -then they end up endlessly boring. I have just tried to read -yesterday linkffn(7467796). It has an interesting setup: Ron has -ability in a limited amount to see future and he is sorted to -Slytherin. diff --git a/faith/thou_shalt_not_suffer_witch_live.rst b/faith/thou_shalt_not_suffer_witch_live.rst index 84673d4..9cfddfe 100644 --- a/faith/thou_shalt_not_suffer_witch_live.rst +++ b/faith/thou_shalt_not_suffer_witch_live.rst @@ -299,6 +299,44 @@ was twofold. First of all, a wizard shall be put to death; they shall be stoned to death, their blood is upon them.” +--- + +My overall feeling is that this is mostly about divination, +predicting future, not much about for example healing magic. +Which is no surprise, because until way into the Enlightenment +the difference between the medical science and medical magic was +really ambiguous (or perhaps, a way longer). + +--- + +Another poorly translated verse: + +https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=g402 + +Many of them also which used curious arts G4021 brought their +books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted +the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. +(KJV) + +Large numbers of those who had practiced magic G4021 collected +their books and burned them up in the presence of everyone. When +the value of the books was added up, it was found to total fifty +thousand silver coins. (NET) + +Acts 19:19 + +The same word G4021 is then used in 1. Timothy 5:13: + +And besides that, going around from house to house they learn to +be lazy, and they are not only lazy, but also gossips and +busybodies, talking about things they should not. + +(nothing nice, but it doesn’t seem like a witchcraft to me). + +Those are only two occurrences of the word in NT (and it is never +used in LXX). + +--- I have to admit |